Zlatan Ibrahimovic Sweden's Clear Focal Point Going Into Euro 2016
Sweden enter the Euros looking more than ever like a one-man team, as Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored 11 of the team's last 15 goals in qualifying
- Associated Press
- Updated: December 12, 2015 06:43 pm IST
For Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the European Championship is probably the last chance to do something big on the international stage. (Zlatan Ibrahimovic Becomes Paris Saint-Germain's Top League Scorer in Nice Win)
For that to happen, though, he'll need to get a bit more help from the rest of a Sweden squad that is often overly reliant on the towering Paris Saint-Germain striker.
Sweden enters the Euros looking more than ever like a one-man team, as Ibrahimovic scored 11 of the team's last 15 goals in qualifying - including a double in the second leg of its playoff against Denmark to secure a spot in France.
While Ibrahimovic gives Sweden a world-class striker who can single-handedly decide a game against any opponent, the team has little else in terms of top-quality players and often looks short of ideas when "Ibra" has an off night.
Sweden does have a promising new generation coming through as its under-21 team won the European Championship this past summer. But those players are relatively untested at the senior international level, and its aging group of veterans - like Kim Kallstrom and Sebastian Larsson - still has the trust of coach Erik Hamren in big games.
However, there are few given starters for the nine positions between goalkeeper Andreas Isaksson and Ibrahimovic up front, and team selection will be one of Hamren's biggest challenges as he tries to balance youth with experience.